The energetics of British agriculture

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Abstract
An analysis is presented firstly of the biological energetics of UK agriculture in which the ultimate yield of edible food is related to primary plant production and solar radiation incidence. Secondly, the industrial energetics of British agriculture are dealt with in which agriculture is regarded as an industry in which the input is of materials which have required, for their production, energy as fossil fuel and the output is again edible food. The results show that primary plant output is 0.18% of solar radiation receipt and of this 12% is recovered as human food. This meets 57% of the requirements of the population for dietary energy and the labour of one man supports the dietary requirement of 48 people. UK agriculture accounts for 3.9% of the total UK primary fuel consumption and the farm gate output relative to total fossil fuel input is 0.6 : 1 while the edible food output is 0.3 : 1. The results of the analysis are discussed taking both a short term and long term view.

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